don't consider myself a "power user" in Linux in the way that I think many of you are: I can't write my own code, and my ability to fix problems is limited, often, by how well I can use google. However, I
Not answering your question, but "power user" doesn't translate to "can code for a living". It might seem that way, but I have to say that most of the problems I encounter and solve do not involve any coding at all. Most of them are entirely about how well you can google for a problem, and read obscure mailing list posts. Confidence is also important - the ability to say "if I screw this up, that's ok. I can just start again" is crucial. Most of the time, you won't screw something up so badly you have to reinstall your distribution, you might just have to remove your config file(s) and start again. Oh, and TAKE NOTES. Very important :)